Culpeperhttp://www.readthehook.com/taxonomy/term/2800/all
en'Outrageous misconduct': Hash sues Culpeper prosecutor, sheriffhttp://www.readthehook.com/108958/outrageous-misconduct-hash-sues-culpeper-prosecutor-sheriff
<p>After spending nearly 12 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, Michael Wayne Hash filed a civil lawsuit in federal court December 28 against Culpeper's top cops: former Commonwealth's Attorney Gary Close, Sheriff Scott Jenkins, Chief Deputy James Mack, and three others.</p>
<p>Last year, a federal judge vacated Hash's capital murder conviction, citing ineffective assistance of counsel and "outrageous misconduct" on the part of law enforcement. Hash was released from prison in March.</p>
<div class="sidebar">
<h2>Related stories</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.readthehook.com/103030/free-man-michael-hash-out-bond">Free man: Michael Hash out on bond</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.readthehook.com/102938/chip-harding-sheriff-made-hash-case-against-hash">Chip Harding: Sheriff made hash of case against Hash</a></p>
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<p>"The best way I can put it," says Hash, who's now 31 and lives in Crozet, "I could go to the state and receive monetary compensation or I could opt to file a civil suit against these individuals. I chose the second because the first lacked any accountability at all. I couldn't accept that. It's not guaranteed with a jury trial, but at least there's a chance."</p>
<p>The case stems from the brutal 1996 murder of Hash's mail carrier, 74-year-old Thelma Scroggins, who was shot four times in the head.</p>
<p>The slaying investigation was cold until a new sheriff, Lee Hart, was elected in 1999 and made the Scroggins case a priority. (Hart was an investigator on another notorious <a href="http://www.readthehook.com/79342/news-wronged-man-earl-washington-awarded-225-million">wrongful conviction case, that of Earl Washington</a>, who came within nine days of execution in 1985.) Hart assigned Jenkins, later elected sheriff in 2011, and Mack to investigate&#8211; even though Jenkins had never investigated a homicide and Mack had never investigated any major crime, according to the complaint.</p>
<p>Mack referred the <em>Hook</em> to Sheriff Jenkins, who had not responded to multiple requests for comment at press time.</p>
<p>Hash was 15 when the murder occurred and 19 years old when he was convicted&nbsp; and sentenced to life in prison without parole, "despite the total absence of credible evidence against him," says the lawsuit.</p>
<p>Judge James Turk in Roanoke threw out Hash's conviction February 28, calling it "an extreme malfunction of the state criminal justice system." He noted that law enforcement had coached witnesses to provide fabricated testimony by promising them favorable treatment, and withheld exculpatory materials.</p>
<p>Investigators shipped Hash from Culpeper Jail to Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail to bunk with a snitch&#8211; an unprecedented transfer&#8211; and then lied about their reasons for doing so, said the judge.</p>
<p>Former Commonwealth's Attorney Close used perjured testimony to convict Hash, determined Judge Turk, and Close's closing argument "constitutes false evidence of which the prosecutor knew or should have known," the judge said in his decision.</p>
<p>Close resigned from his office March 12 and did not return a phone call from the <em>Hook</em>.</p>
<p>The alleged snitch, Paul Carter, who has provided testimony against at least 20 people, according to the complaint, and whose federal drug dealing sentence was reduced after he testified against Hash, is named in the suit, as are Culpeper investigator Calvin Bruce Cave and former Culpeper chief jailer Mary Peters Dwyer. Carter and Dwyer did not return phone calls from the <em>Hook</em>, and a reporter was unable to locate Cave.</p>
<p>Police and prosecutors are sued "with some regularity, but not frequently," says <em>Hook</em> legal expert David Heilberg. "One reason it's difficult to sue is that they have sovereign immunity."</p>
<p>Violation of civil rights, however, is not covered by sovereign immunity, says Heilberg, nor is "willful, wanton, or intentional misconduct," which is what Hash accuses the police and prosecutor of in his suit.</p>
<p>Hash is represented by Hunton &amp; Williams in Richmond, which put in 2,000 hours of free work to get his conviction vacated. Says Heilberg, "Hunton &amp; Williams is heavy artillery for a civil rights case like this."</p>
<p>The new Culpeper Commonwealth's Attorney, Megan Frederick, is in the awkward position of having both her predecessor and the Culpeper Sheriff's Office accused of misconduct.</p>
<p>"I think there's a new face to prosecution here," says Frederick. "I fully intend not just to prosecute crimes, but to police the police."</p>
<p>Last year was not a good one for Culpeper law enforcement. Former police officer Daniel Harmon-Wright faces a murder charge for blasting 54-year-old unarmed Patricia Cook, who was sitting in a church parking lot.</p>
<p>Albemarle Sheriff Chip Harding was instrumental in the investigation that got Hash out of prison. Harding, a pioneer in the use of DNA testing, pushed funding for Virginia's DNA databank, which became a national model for solving cold cases. Now he sees it as a tool for freeing innocent people.</p>
<p>After reading John Grisham's <em>The Innocent Man, </em>Harding says he became involved several years ago with the Innocence Project, an organization dedicated to exonerating the wrongfully convicted, which also took Hash's case<em></em>.</p>
<p>"The Innocence Project uses DNA, something I'm very into," says Harding.</p>
<p>He also came across a book by UVA law professor Brandon Garrett, an expert in wrongful convictions, called <em>Convicting the Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong, </em>which examined the first 250 exonerations that came from DNA testing.<em><br /></em></p>
<p>"That had more impact on me than any book I've ever read about law enforcement," says Harding.</p>
<p>He says he asked Garrett how many times in those 250 cases had prosecutors or law enforcement been held responsible for criminal actions, such as fabricating evidence or knowingly allowing perjured testimony. In only one case had charges been brought, and that resulted in an acquittal.</p>
<p>"To me, that shouldn't be cloaked in immunity," opines Harding. He cites "the shocking facts" set forth in Judge Turk's opinion and says, "In this case, there's strong reason to believe law enforcement, the prosecutor, and others have committed criminal offenses, and if they have, they should be held criminally and civilly responsible."</p>
<p>Michael Hash would also like to see prosecution of those law enforcers named in his suit. "When there's evidence they've committed a crime, they should be held to the same standard as everyone else&#8211; if not a higher standard because of the position they hold," he says.</p>
<p>"Criminal prosecution is rare," says legal expert Heilberg. "More frequent are bar sanctions." He points out that no charges were filed against Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, who charged three Duke lacrosse players with rape in 2006 and was disbarred as a result of his handling of the case.</p>
<p>U.S. Attorney Timothy Heaphy declined to comment through his spokesperson about whether indictments would be coming against the Culpeper officials involved in sending Hash to prison.</p>
<p>"If there are federal indictments, I will cooperate with those," says Culpeper Commonwealth's Attorney Frederick, who notes that for her office to investigate elected officials, attorney general approval is required.</p>
<p>"My office will cooperate with anything that will provide justice to my community and to Michael Hash," she says. "I am bound and determined not to let an innocent man go to prison."</p>
<p>While most police do a good job, says Hash, there's a few who don't. "I'd like people to be more cautious about believing what they're told," he says. "Most people don't realize how easily their rights can be taken away. They can be in the same position as me, and that's scary."</p>
<p>Hash is not the only Crozet man claiming wrongful imprisonment. Robert Davis has been jailed 10 years for the 2003 murder of Nola Annette Charles and her toddler son, based on what he says was a false confession after a grueling six-hour, middle-of-the-night interrogation by Albemarle police. Davis has a clemency petition before Governor Bob McDonnell.</p>
<p>Unable to find a job because of his conviction, Hash is trying to catch up with with what's happened in the past 12 years. "You come back to a world that's left you behind," he says.</p>
<p>"Mike will never be able to recover the nearly 12 years he spent in jail for a crime he did not commit," his attorney Matthew Bosher writes in an email. "One of the aims of this lawsuit is to hold officials in Culpeper accountable for the misconduct that cost him all of those years."</p>
http://www.readthehook.com/108958/outrageous-misconduct-hash-sues-culpeper-prosecutor-sheriff#comments_BreakingNewsFeaturedchip hardingCulpeperMichael Hashwrongful convictionNewsSat, 05 Jan 2013 19:01:24 +0000lisa108958 at http://www.readthehook.comFatal details: Officer's 7-shot fusillade detailed at hearinghttp://www.readthehook.com/104182/fatal-details-officers-7-shot-fusillade-detailed-hearing
<p>Reports emerging from Culpeper paint a horrifying picture of the last moments in the life of unarmed Sunday school teacher Patricia A. Cook. The 54-year-old motorist was gunned down in her vehicle by a Culpeper Police officer in February.</p>
<div class="sidebar">
<h2>Related</h2>
<p>• <a href="http://www.readthehook.com/104059/indicted-officer-who-pumped-bullets-motorist-charged">Indicted: Officer who pumped bullets into motorist charged</a></p>
<p>• <a href="http://www.readthehook.com/103920/name-changer-culpeper-cop-who-shot-unarmed-woman-has-multiple-monikerstizens-petition">Culpeper silence: Citizens, top cop slam shooting inquest</a></p>
<h2>More Culpeper mayhem</h2>
<p>• <a href="http://www.readthehook.com/102938/chip-harding-sheriff-made-hash-case-against-hash">Chip Harding: Sheriff made hash of case against Hash</a></p>
<p>• <a href="http://www.readthehook.com/103030/free-man-michael-hash-out-bond">Free man: Michael Hash out on bond</a></p>
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<p>Cook was first struck by a pair of non-fatal gunshot wounds but then by five more bullets fired from behind her Jeep, one of which hit her brain and another which severed her spinal cord before tearing into her heart and lungs, according to prosecutors, who detailed the grisly information in a filing.</p>
<p>The prosecution revealed that the officer, Daniel Harmon-Wright, eventually arrested and held on murder and firearms charges, had been placed on his department's "Brady List," a roster that law enforcement may keep to name officers known to have lied in their official duties.</p>
<p>The prosecution also revealed that Harmon-Wright joined the Culpeper force over the objections of a sergeant and lieutenant who conducted his background check.</p>
<p>The revelations got a public airing at a preliminary hearing for Harmon-Wright held Friday, June 8. There, he pleaded not guilty to all four charges: murder, malicious shooting into an occupied vehicle, malicious shooting into an occupied vehicle resulting in a death, and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.</p>
<p>The prosecutor's document revealed that Harmon-Wright had also self-reported some problems with alcohol and had been the subject of discipline over alcohol abuse in the U.S. Marine Corps.</p>
<p>The defense asserted that Cook&#8211; who was blamed in an early Virginia State Police press release for driving away with the officer's arm caught in her window&#8211; posed a threat both to the officer because she allegedly tried to kill him with her Jeep and to the public because she began driving while her forward view was obscured by a windshield-covering sunscreen.</p>
<p>"The suspect presented an obvious threat to public safety including a pedestrian who was present and more than one other vehicle coming up the road from the opposite direction, as well as any number of other persons threatened by the suspect's use of her vehicle as a weapon," reads the defense motion.</p>
<p>The defense motion further contended that the officer's fusillade was appropriate because Cook's alleged actions made her a felon.</p>
<p>"The officer assumed an 'isosceles' stance and carefully took aim and eliminated the threat as he had been trained to do," reads the motion, "and under the circumstances quite admirable in that his presence of mind all but eliminated the possibility of collateral damage."</p>
<p>But that's not how James Jennings views the facts. The citizen who collected over 1,000 online signatures on a petition urging officials to move forward in the case after months of inaction, Jennings contends that the defense is "disconnected from reality."</p>
<p>"Maybe she wasn't thinking clearly," concedes Jennings, "but maybe it's hard to think clearly when someone's shooting at you."</p>
<p>The prosecutor noted that about a month before the fatal incident, Harmon-Wright received a reprimand for entering a house with his gun drawn and forcing a teenager to the floor. It turned out he had the wrong teen.</p>
<p>"If they'd suspended him from the force then, then maybe none of this would have happened," says Jennings.</p>
<p>The prosecutor also noted that forensic evidence indicated that the five behind-the-Jeep bullets passed through the rear of the vehicle as well as through the back of the driver's seat and headrest, a fatal volley that appeared to undercut the notion of self-defense. The same might be said for the officer's "distraught" demeanor at the scene which including telling others "that he was going to 'lose his [f]-ing job.'"</p>
<p>Outrage over apparent inaction in the case culminated not only with the citizen petition but also with harsh words from the Sheriff of Albemarle County who uncovered malfeasance in an unrelated Culpeper case.</p>
<p>Harmon-Wright and his mother&#8211; charged only with record-tampering as the secretary to the former police chief who hired her son&#8211; were arrested May 29 after grand jury indictments. She was immediately released on unsecured bond; he was granted a $100,000 bond at the close of Friday's hearing.</p>
<p>“This community will be safer when he is out,” the <em>Culpeper Star-Exponent</em> quoted the defense lawyer of his client. “You couldn’t have a safer person out there.”</p>
<p>According to the <em>Star-Exponent</em>, Harmon-Wright was freed within a day or two of the hearing.</p>
<p>A month earlier, Patricia Cook's husband, Gary D. Cook, filed a lawsuit against against Harmon-Wright seeking $5 million in compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages.</p>
<p>"Culpeper might as well get their checkbook out," says Charlottesville-based former law enforcement official Steven W. Shifflett.</p>
<p><em>&#8211;above story edited for print publication at 10:49am Tuesday, June 12</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><b>Original online story:</b></p>
<p>Reports emerging from Culpeper paint a horrifying picture of the last moments in the life of unarmed Sunday school teacher Patricia A. Cook. The 54-year-old motorist was gunned down in her vehicle by a Culpeper Police officer in February.</p>
<p>Cook was first struck by a pair of non-fatal gunshot wounds but then by five more bullets fired from behind her Jeep, one of which hit her brain and another which severed her spinal cord, according to prosecutors, and as detailed in Tweets by NBC29 reporter Henry Graff.</p>
<p>Graff went on to note that the prosecution revealed that the officer, Daniel Harmon-Wright, eventually arrested and held on murder and firearms charges, had been placed on his department's "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brady_v._Maryland">Brady List</a>," a roster that law enforcement may keep to name officers known to have lied in their official duties.</p>
<p>Another news organization, WJLA television, reported that Harmon-Wright joined the Culpeper force over the objections of a sergeant and lieutenant who conducted his background check.</p>
<p>The revelations came at a preliminary hearing for Harmon-Wright held Friday, June 8. There, he pleaded not guilty to all four charges: murder, malicious shooting into an occupied vehicle, malicious shooting into an occupied vehicle resulting in a death, and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.</p>
<p>The news organizations reported that the prosecutor mentioned that Harmon-Wright had some problems with alcohol and had been the subject of a reprimand.</p>
<p>The defense asserted that Cook&#8211; who was blamed in an early Virginia State Police press release for driving away with the officer's arm caught in her window&#8211; posed a threat both to the officer and to the safety of the public, according to Graff.</p>
<p>In the account by the <em>Culpeper Star-Exponent</em>, the defense attorney claimed that Cook engaged in an accelerate-decelerate maneuver designed to harm the officer.</p>
<p>However, the prosecutor noted that the forensic evidence indicated that the five behind-the-Jeep bullets passed through the back of the Jeep as well as through the back of the driver's seat and headrest, a fatal volley that appeared to undercut the notion of self-defense.</p>
<p>Outrage over apparent inaction in the case culminated with an approximately 1,000-signature online petition and harsh words from the Charlottesville law official who uncovered malfeasance in an unrelated Culpeper case.</p>
<p>Harmon-Wright and his mother&#8211; charged only with record-tampering&#8211; were arrested May 29 after grand jury indictments. She was released on unsecured bond; he was granted a $100,000 bond at the close of Friday's hearing, according to WJLA.</p>
<p class="BODYCOPY">“This community will be safer when he is out,” the Star-Exponent quoted the defense lawyer of his client. “You couldn’t have a safer person out there.”</p>
<p><em>&#8211;developing story; may be updated&#8211;-</em></p>
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http://www.readthehook.com/104182/fatal-details-officers-7-shot-fusillade-detailed-hearing#comments_BreakingNewsFeaturedCulpeperdaniel harmon-wrightpatricia ann cookNewsFri, 08 Jun 2012 17:22:34 +0000hawes104182 at http://www.readthehook.comCulpeper silence: Citizens, top cop slam shooting inquesthttp://www.readthehook.com/103920/name-changer-culpeper-cop-who-shot-unarmed-woman-has-multiple-monikerstizens-petition
<p>Three months after a Culpeper police officer gunned down an unarmed woman and despite an official explanation that has been contradicted by at least two witnesses, there's still no action. Frustration has grown so intense that about 500 citizens have signed a petition, and now Central Virginia's leading law enforcer is speaking out about the case and its allegedly slow pace.</p>
<p>"What I've heard about it stinks,"says Albemarle Sheriff Chip Harding.</p>
<p>A former Charlottesville police captain who gained a national reputation in DNA technology, Harding says that 80 percent of a police shooting investigation typically occurs in the first five or six hours. Here, the State Police, aside from issuing a pair of press releases essentially blaming the victim, have released little&#8211; even denying multiple requests for the name of the officer in question.</p>
<p>Harding says that normal procedure when an officer engages in deadly force is for the police administration to release his name. It's okay, says Harding, for a chief to support the officer who goes on administrative leave with pay while the matter is investigated.</p>
<p>While the town of Culpeper steadfastly refuses to identify the officer, other sources have filled that information void. The <em><a href="http://fredericksburg.com//News/FLS/2012/042012/04042012/692927?rss=local">Free Lance-Star</a></em> in Fredericksburg cites two unnamed officers confirming that the shooter's name is Daniel Harmon-Wright.</p>
<p>Moreover, the newspaper reports that the 33-year-old Harmon-Wright has previously used other names. On Facebook, he goes by "Dan Wayne," a graduate of James Madison High School in Vienna, the paper reports. More curiously, the five-year veteran of the Culpeper P.D., also a veteran of the U.S. Marines, previously lived in Fauquier where he was known as Daniel Sullivan.</p>
<p>Culpeper Police Chief Chris Jenkins did not return a phone call from the <em>Hook</em> seeking confirmation that Harmon-Wright is Sullivan and the shooter&#8211; and why the officer might tamper with his own surname.</p>
<p>The controversy began the morning of February 9 after a report of a suspicious person in the parking lot of Epiphany Catholic School at Precious Blood Catholic Church. A school staffer had observed a female walk around the school building and then return to her car in the parking lot, says Michael Donohue, spokesman for the Diocese of Arlington.</p>
<p>"The employee thought that was unusual and asked her to leave," says Donohue. "She refused, and they called police. The police officer asked her questions, and she refused to answer."</p>
<p>School administrators heard gunshots, and the school, says Donohue, went into lockdown.</p>
<p>In a State Police release issued the day after the shooting, the unidentified police officer alleges that 54-year-old Patricia Cook "closed her driver's side window, trapping the officer's arm."</p>
<p>Maybe it happened that way. However, one television news interview with her grieving husband indicates that Cook, a volunteer Sunday school teacher, was driving a Jeep Wrangler equipped with hand-cranked windows. Equally unhelpful to the officer's story was a witness, a nearby house-painter named Kristopher Buchele, who indicated that the officer had one hand on the Jeep's door handle and another on his gun as Cook drove out of the parking lot. He's quoted many times including on <a href="http://www.wjla.com/articles/2012/02/patricia-cook-shot-killed-by-police-72483.html">WJLA channel 7</a>:</p>
<p>"I could hear him tapping the glass with the gun telling her to 'stop or I'll shoot.'"</p>
<p>Buchele indicates that the officer then unloaded five or six rounds into Cook's Jeep which eventually came to rest against a utility pole. Cook was pronounced dead at the scene, and WJLA cites another alleged witness, Greg Andrews, whose account "mirrors" that of Buchele.</p>
<p>The matter remains under investigation, according to State Police spokesperson Corinne Geller. As for why the investigation has entered its fourth month, Geller is unapologetic.</p>
<p>"Investigations are complex and include multiple variables, lab analysis, interviews, etc." says Geller. "The Virginia State Police never puts time limits or constraints on an investigation, as that would endanger the process and thoroughness required to properly conduct it."</p>
<p>The shooting is the latest black-eye for Culpeper, where a judge recently found that officials engaged in <a href="http://www.readthehook.com/102938/chip-harding-sheriff-made-hash-case-against-hash">"outrageous misconduct"</a> to convict a young man named Michael Hash of capital murder in the 1996 killing of Thelma Scoggins. <a href="http://www.readthehook.com/103030/free-man-michael-hash-out-bond">Hash was released</a> on unsecured bond March 14, two days after embattled Culpeper Commonwealth's Attorney Gary Close resigned over his handling of the case.</p>
<p>Sheriff Harding was instrumental in Hash's release, and he's troubled by more than just the lack of action after Cook's shooting.</p>
<p>"Why are you sticking your arm in a car window anyway?" he wonders about Harmon-Wright's story.</p>
<p>James Fisher, the Commonwealth's Attorney for neighboring Fauquier County, has been named special prosecutor and called for the assistance of a special grand jury. While Fisher did not immediately return a phone call fro<em></em>m a reporter, Harding applauds the move and notes a special grand juries can subpoena witnesses.</p>
<p>"It's a great tool to get people to say things they wouldn't otherwise," says Harding. "It's also a way to take political heat off the prosecutor."</p>
<p>In April, Culpeper resident James Jennings, frustrated over the lack of information, <a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/special-prosecutor-bring-criminal-charges-against-police-officer-who-killed-patricia-cook">launched an online petition</a> that he wants to send to the special prosecutor. So far, he's gathered about 500 names.</p>
<p>"When I heard the news, I thought something didn't sound right&#8211; a woman who hadn't even had a speeding ticket gets shot [multiple] times by a police officer," says Jennings, who says he didn't know Cook. In addition to the online petition, he has created a <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Justice-for-Patricia-Cook/405709186116293">Facebook page</a> for people who felt "things went terribly wrong that day."</p>
<p>"I'm putting myself in the middle of a hornets' nest," admits Jennings, who says he's been bullied by some who are angry that he's asking questions. And he emphasizes that he's not assuming the killing was unjustified&#8211; that he just wants to know what happened.</p>
<p>Jennings says he was formerly a systems engineer and that when something went wrong, there was always a post-mortem to figure it out and avoid repeating the mistake. In the Cook case, he says, "From day one, there's been a reluctance to do that."</p>
<p>His fear is that the special grand jury will find the shooting justified, seal the records, and the public will never know what happened.</p>
<p>"They need to explain why this was justified," says Jennings. "We're not asking for anything unreasonable. We just want to make sure the system works.</p>
<p>"This secrecy does more to harm to police than help them," Jennings adds. "People are afraid to come to Culpeper."</p>
<p>On May 11, Patricia Cook's husband, Gary D. Cook, filed a lawsuit against against Harmon-Wright seeking $5 million in compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages.</p>
<p><em>&#8211;this story was updated on May 14 with word that Cook's husband was suing.</em></p>
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http://www.readthehook.com/103920/name-changer-culpeper-cop-who-shot-unarmed-woman-has-multiple-monikerstizens-petition#comments_BreakingNewsFeaturedCrime/JusticeGovt/Politicschip hardingCulpeperdaniel harmon-wrightjames jenningspatricia ann cookNewsThu, 10 May 2012 16:47:11 +0000lisa103920 at http://www.readthehook.comGetting pulled: Virginia State Police busy patrollinghttp://www.readthehook.com/102908/getting-pulled-virginia-state-police-busy-patrolling
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div class="sidebar">
<h2>Stories about the shooting</h2>
<p>• <a href="http://www2.starexponent.com/news/2012/feb/26/he-gunned-down-my-sister-ar-1716583/">'He gunned down my sister'</a></p>
<p>• <a href="http://www.wjla.com/articles/2012/02/culpeper-mayor-police-chief-issue-statements-about-patricia-cook-72622.html">Culpeper Mayor, Police Chief issue statements about Patricia Cook</a></p>
<p>• <a href="http://www2.starexponent.com/news/2012/feb/14/controversy-mounts-police-shooting-housewife-ar-1687358/">Controversy mounts in police shooting of housewife</a></p>
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<p>The Virginia State Police are out patrolling, as this photo along I-64 would indicate. Curiously, they have yet to place charges in the February 9 shooting death of Patricia Ann Cook, an unarmed woman who, according to an initial State Police press release, trapped an Culpeper Town police officer's arm in her window. Two eyewitnesses, however, have described a vastly different account of the town officer pumping numerous shots into the 54-year-old Sunday school teacher's vehicle. State Police spokesperson Corinne Geller: "These investigations take several weeks to complete." She declined to release the name of the officer who killed Cook.</p>
http://www.readthehook.com/102908/getting-pulled-virginia-state-police-busy-patrolling#comments_BreakingNewsCrime/JusticeSnap o' the DayCulpeperpatricia ann cookOnline onlySun, 26 Feb 2012 22:39:02 +0000hawes102908 at http://www.readthehook.comBrutal crime: Culpeper authorities seek public's assistance http://www.readthehook.com/65792/brutal-crime-culpeper-authorities-seek-publics-assistance
<p><a href="http://www.readthehook.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/news-sherriwarner.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-41788 alignleft" title="news-sherriwarner" src="http://www.readthehook.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/news-sherriwarner.jpg" alt="news-sherriwarner" width="90" height="115" /></a>Culpeper Commonwealth's Attorney Gary Close and Sheriff James Branch Jr. are asking for help solving the horrific murder of mother-of-three Sheryl Warner, pictured here, on the fifth anniversary of the crime. Due to the Hook's abbreviated holiday publishing schedule and the unusually detailed nature of the press release, we are reprinting it here in its entirety and will report further in the near future:<br />
</p><p class="whitespace"><strong>SHERYL WARNER HOMICIDE</strong><br />
</p><p class="whitespace"><strong>JOINT PRESS RELEASE OF COMMONWEALTH'S ATTORNEY GARY CLOSE AND SHERIFF JAMES BRANCH, JR.</strong><br />
</p><p class="whitespace">As we reach the five-year anniversary of a brutal crime that shocked our community, the Culpeper County Commonwealth's Attorney and Sheriff's Offices are again seeking the assistance of the public with our investigation of the murder of Sheryl Warner of the Reva area of Culpeper County. We remain absolutely committed to solving this crime and are continuing to pursue new leads and re-examine existing evidence and information in light of advances in forensic technology and investigative techniques.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">On Sunday evening, December 18, 2005, around 6:30 p.m., 37-year old Sheryl Warner was alone in her home located at 8445 James Monroe Highway, 29 South in Culpeper County, about three (3) miles before the Madison County line. She was on the telephone with her father, John Embrey, discussing the Washington Redskins recent win against the Dallas Cowboys. This phone call was interrupted when a male knocked on her front door, reported that his car had broken down, and asked to use her phone to call for assistance. His conversation suggested he was not alone. Sheryl Warner hung up the phone and was never heard from again.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">Alerted by Sherri's family, responding fire and law enforcement personnel discovered her home set on fire and her bound, hanging and lifeless body in the basement. The cause of her death was a gunshot to her head. Her murder robbed her family of a beloved daughter and sister. Most tragic was that Sherri's three children&#8211;- aged 13, 8 and 10, lost their mother that night&#8211;- a week before Christmas.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">Some eyewitnesses have reported a suspicious vehicle in the vicinity of Sherri's home that night. It may be the case that someone encountered the killer around the time of the crime and thought his behavior odd or frightening. Someone may have heard what was considered an unusual conversation about the murder. We are asking anyone with any information about the events of that night, even if you think it has already been reported, to contact us at the numbers or addresses listed below.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">The person who murdered Sherri brought a lot of violence to the crime scene and his behavior suggests a degree of criminal versatility. He was able to con his way into her home, spend time there, brutally kill her, and then escape undetected. It is likely that this subject was no stranger to violence and criminality and that would be reflected in his arrest history and behavior with others in his life. Those who know him will note in him an ability to quickly move to explosive violence and then recover. Those close to him in his life, especially females, may have been the victims of his violent outbursts.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">If we are to believe the suspect's own words, then he may not have been alone that night as he approached and entered Sherri's home. It is to that other person that we would also like to speak. Relationships and friendships can change or dissolve with time. People may question loyalties they've held. As time goes by, a person's conscience can motivate him or her to try to do the right thing and make up for past mistakes.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">So we are offering this second person the chance to come clean and remove this burden and fear from your conscience and mind, remove yourself from harm's way, and help also to end the killer's victimization of others. We understand you may be afraid of the killer; we can protect you. We understand you may fear your involvement that night could expose you to punishment; your coming forward will go a long way in positively determining your future life. No one should live in fear or danger from this killer. No children should ever have to lose their mother at his hands again.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">We may be contacted via telephone at 540-727-7523 or 540-727-3441. We can be reached via email at <a href="mailto:gclose@culpepercounty.gov">gclose@culpepercounty.gov</a> or <a href="mailto:jbranch@culpepercounty.gov">jbranch@culpepercounty.gov</a> ; or via mail at James Branch, Jr., 110 W. Cameron Street or Gary L. Close, 118 W. Davis St., Culpeper Virginia 222701, or in person at 110 W. Cameron Street, or 118 W. Davis St. Culpeper, VA 22701.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">There is a reward for information leading to the arrest of Sherri's killer.<br />
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http://www.readthehook.com/65792/brutal-crime-culpeper-authorities-seek-publics-assistance#comments_BreakingNewsCrime/JusticeCulpepermurderSheryl WarnerSat, 18 Dec 2010 17:01:00 +0000courteney65792 at http://www.readthehook.com